tempo, Jakarta – Papuan police arrested three suspected drug smugglers believed to be kingpins from Papua New Guinea (PNG) during a raid in Jayapura District, Papua Province, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Local police seized 394 boxes of marijuana from suspects identified as NJDM, IT and TT, said Senior Commissioner Alfian, head of the Papua Police Narcotics Bureau, Saturday (20/7).
He said the marijuana packets were smuggled from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia’s eastern Papua province, adding that tip-offs from residents enabled police officers to arrest the suspects.
Alfian said two of the smuggling suspects arrested in Tradan village were Papua New Guinean nationals, while the other, arrested at Pojok Bridge in Sentani district, was an Indonesian national.
Alfian admitted that the NJDM had obtained packages of marijuana from three PNG nationals, identified as IT, TT and M, but added that M had managed to evade police investigation.
The Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border remains vulnerable to cross-border criminal activity, including marijuana trafficking.
In the early hours of Thursday 21 March 2024, Papuan police arrested two PNG nationals for allegedly smuggling 51 boxes of marijuana from their country to Papua.
They were arrested at around 2:15 a.m. local time in Hamadi Hanurata district, Jaya Selatan district, Jayapura city.
The suspects, identified as Junior Renga and Lindox, were in possession of 51 bags of marijuana concealed inside four rice bags.
Police investigators found that Junior Lenga was on the Jayapura Municipal Police’s priority watch list because he had escaped from Abepura Prison while incarcerated in connection with a drug smuggling case.
On 22 March 2021, police officers in Papua arrested a PNG national for allegedly being involved in a cross-border drug trafficking network.
Police officials seized five bags of marijuana from the detainee, identified as 18-year-old Gaddafi Kuentau Walopo.
He was arrested at Many Island in Jayapura Selatan district of Jayapura city following the arrest of 28-year-old Benny Tway Walopoh.
Papua New Guinea police in West Sepik province are exploring cooperation with Indonesian police in Papua to combat cross-border drug trafficking activities.
A total of 110 Papua New Guinean nationals are being convicted in relation to drug cases at Doyo Prison in Jayapura district.
Local and international drug dealers see Indonesia as a potential market because of its large population and high drug use.
The country’s drug trade is estimated to reach 66 trillion rupiah (about US$4.2 billion), and the number of drug trafficking cases continues to soar.
A joint study conducted by BNN and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 2019 estimated the number of drug users in Indonesia to be more than 3.4 million.
Editor’s note: The headline has been changed. The previous headline was “Indonesia’s Papuan police seize 394 boxes of marijuana belonging to Papua New Guinea ringleader.”
Antara
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